McMaster Associate Professor Iris Balodis is among a group of researchers raising concerns about Ontario’s approach around online gambling.
“ I don’t think there’s anyone in Ontario that is unaffected by it, from hearing and seeing ads, to all the opportunities for play,” she said. “But we have very, very little idea of how things have been impacted by this massive change in industry.”
In April 2022, Ontario became the first province to regulate gambling sites beyond its provincial crown corporation. Balodis, who is also associate director of the Peter Boris Centre for Addictions Research at McMaster, says she and her colleagues launched a survey in April 2022 to try and estimate problem gambling rates in the province.
“9 per cent of respondents in our survey already met criteria for problem gambling, which is much higher than the 2 to 5 per cent that’s normally cited for problem gambling.”
Balodis says problems with gambling fall on a continuum.
“ At first, perhaps someone might not be that honest about how much time they spend gambling,” she said. “ There’s a difficulty in cutting back. You say you’re just going to play for an hour or so, you end up playing for four hours and suddenly the afternoon is gone or it’s the middle of the night.”
“ There are some signs of withdrawal or there’s sort of preoccupation as well. So you’re always thinking about, you might be out with friends, but you’re actually thinking about gambling and maybe how you might, place bets differently next time, or strategizing.”
Balodis says society can tend to blame individuals experiencing problem gambling without adequately factoring in the environment its occurring in.
“ Sometimes there’s a a wrong tendency to focus just on the individual,” she said. “That’s actually the wrong way to look at this. Gambling occurs in a context, it occurs in an environment. You’re not just in a bubble by yourself.”
Balodis says she thinks the stigma around problem gambling is pervasive.
“ I think what people need to know is that there, there is help available,” she said.
“Things like cognitive behavioral therapy or motivational interviewing or some sort of combination of the two. Like with substance use disorders, there’s a lot of similarities in terms of treatments that are available and that do work. It does take time and it’s very difficult, but there is help out there.”
The Gambling Support BC website offers self assessment tools and resources for anyone impacted by problem gambling, they also offer a 24/7 gambling support line: 1-888-795-6111
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